Hero: feminine or masculine?

[katherinew.livejournal.com]

This is not a question of usability, because I fully believe that it is 100% usable and I will not be persuaded to think otherwise.

I'm just curious if you see this as a feminine or masculine name. I have always thought of it as a girl's name, but I recently suggested it to a friend of mine who's wife is expecting and he says he likes it a lot -- for a boy!

I cannot see this on a boy. Am I the only one?

Comments

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

why would it be a feminine name? hero is the masculine form of the word - heroine is feminine. i don't see this on a girl all all. i can see hera on a girl, but hero is definitely a boy's name.

that said, i would never use it, on a boy OR a girl. it's setting the kid up for failure. maybe he's just going to be an ordinary kid. it's like naming your daughter sunshine or hope and finding out that she's actually pretty pessimistic and cynical.

[areyoustrange.livejournal.com]

Definitely masculine to me. It's a Japanese name (sounds the same, spelled 'Hiro', means something different), and I've met quite a few Japanese guys called Hiro.

[miss-tee.livejournal.com]

I think of it as a girls' name because of the character in Much Ado About Nothing and because of Hero and Leander.

[katherinew.livejournal.com]

Classically, it is absolutely feminine. Hero was a priestess in Greek mythology. It was also the name of a female character is Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

And I do get the thing about it having too many expectations attached to it, but really, if you think about it: children are given names like Hope and Faith all the time and no one wonders what might happen if they're hopeless or faithless. Why can't a child be named Hero without everyone worrying what might happen if they're not extraordinary?

Also, take this into consideration: wouldn't it be pretty bad ass if darling little Hero saved a drowning puppy or a bus full of school children about to fall off a cliff? I would give my kid this name just in hopes of something like that happening. ;-)

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

I've only ever heard it as a girl's name, but I think it sounds way more like a guys name. As bornto_fly said, Hero is the masculine form of the word, and I know Greek influences, yadda yadda, Shakespeare, blah blah, I just cannot think of it as a girls name!

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

I also think it's kinda cheesy, comic booky sounding name

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately in our culture, Greek mythology and Shakespearean characters are not the first things that are going to come to mind when people hear the name. I'm actually an English major who loves Shakespeare and truthfully, the character from Much Ado... didn't even come to mind when I heard the name - and the majority of people AREN'T familiar with Shakespeare beyond Romeo & Juliet, and even then, it's limited, at best.

I'm not saying you should "dumb down" your taste in names because people aren't familiar with the same Greek myths and Shakespearean plays that you are, but you should consider the fact that it's not YOU who has to deal with your name, but your daughter. And I can guarantee that the kids on the playground aren't going to tease her any less because a character in a play was named that.

And while I think it would be cool if Little Hero saved a bunch of people, that's not necessarily likely, lol. People are going to expect things from a Hero or a Hope or a Faith than they're not going to expect from a Danielle or a Jessica. And people DO comment when people with names like Hope and Faith are the exact opposite of their names. I know two Faiths and one Hope and none of them fit their names and people are ALWAYS commenting on it.

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

it's kinda cheesy, comic booky sounding

I totally agree.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I don't care because I don't like it as a name, but I just want to say that it doesn't matter whether Shakespeare wanted it to be feminine, because last time I checked, Shakespeare wasn't the supreme authority on names.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I third this.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_toasterhead/]

i vote feminine (because Shakespeare says so).

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

It's roots are actually feminine (i look on babynames.com and behindthename). It's Greek, and I'm starting to wonder how Hero ended up being a masculine noun if the name were feminine...

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Hero was, however, originally a female name.

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

I definitely can't see it on a boy. Hero and Leander is a famous mythical pairing and Hero is a GIRL.

Hero for a girl evokes Shakespeare and mythology and seems feminine and striking and mysterious. Hero for a boy seems silly and bombastic, like naming your son "Danger" or "Cougar."

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

"Unfortunately in our culture, Greek mythology and Shakespearean characters are not the first things that are going to come to mind when people hear the name."

Depends on whom you're hanging around. Why play to the lowest common denominator?

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

I disagree!

[hotchpot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but the only other time its been used was greek mythology, and that Hero was a girl as well.

[mmmrorschach.livejournal.com]

I present to you Hero, from the Y: The Last Man comic book.

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

words and names are however two different things. I can see the progression from masculine name to feminine and vice versa, but not from feminine word to masculine word with feminine counterpart.

and feminizing masculine names is certainly not taboo! Look at Roberta, Georgia, Andrea (which in some cultures is a feminine derivative's and not it's own masculine name), Shauna, Davinia, etc.

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying you should play to the lowest common denominator, but even if the majority of the people in our culture were familiar with Greek mythology and the works of Shakespeare, 10-year-olds on the playground STILL wouldn't be. And that's who's going to be giving the kid a hard time, not adults or educated people.

I'm just saying that if the majority of ADULTS aren't even familiar with it, how do you expect the kids in your child's elementary school to be?

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

I understood the taboo to masculinize a feminine name, but i also thought you were saying that people would rather take a mans name and make it a girls than feminize it, which isn't really true, because yes, there are becoming more unisex names (which doesnt involve feminizing or masculinzing a name), but most names do have a feminine version and a masculine version, and for most of them I really don't think there's any saying which came first (although my guess would be the masculine name came first, because of patriarchal societies and all that, which could explain the taboo, not so much because it's really a taboo, but because originally there werent many instances for it to happen)

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

holy moo cows.

Shakespeare is crying somewhere right now...

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I just think it'd look awful on his/her work papers when he/she grows up.
Other than that, first impression is masculine because of the word 'hero'.
Then I don't know that well about mythologhy, but Hera is definitely a more well-known greek deity than Hero (which I've never heard of).

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

"Unisex names is just another word for girls' names."

Nope, unisex means its used by both genders, and I know males and females named Ryan, Taylor, Jan, and other names along those lines

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

Honestly, no one I know is reluctant to use unisex names on a boy, and i have never heard anyone call Taylor a strictly girls names, I really think what you're observing is demographic, because I see unisex names being used as a unisex name, on both boys and girls, I have never met anyone who considers Ryan or Ashton to be a girls name, and have yet to meet a girl name Ashton in our school system. There are more boy Ryans and Taylors than girl Ryans and Taylors, so the issues you raise about this topic aren't seen by everyone.

As to why girls names aren't turning unisex, I think a lot of that has to do with historical reasons, patriarchal societies, and all that jazz

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of it as a name, so I would assume it is masculine, firstly because names ending in O often are... and secondly because as a word it is the masculine form. Interesting to see what other people commented though

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

By the same logic one shouldn't name a girl anything that ends in -son (oh, please!). Because kids do know that a son is a boy - I've heard five year olds asking about 'Madison' and thinking it is an illogical name for a girl, and I don't blame them, frankly.

I would use Hero, personally, because most of the adults I know do know it, and their kids will soon get used to it, just as they do any other unusual or uneeeek name.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Tell that to all the Imogens of the world! :)

[rubytitania.livejournal.com]

I see where people are coming from with the masculine thing, but to me it's feminine because of Hero in Greek myth and Hero in Much Ado.

[bobinwales.livejournal.com]

Ditto!

[jordle.livejournal.com]

I think a child would struggle with a name like that. I can see it for both sexes but I'm not a fan.

[dreemerr.livejournal.com]

that is a name i would name my dog(male of female) not a child. sounds too...out there and soon to be trendy:-/

[home-to-me.livejournal.com]

I agree with this comment, on both counts.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

I would say masculine as the feminine would be heroine.

[omgzits--tam.livejournal.com]

I actually kind of like it. Guilty pleasure, you could say. It would probably be tough on a kid.
And it seems masculine to me.

[sevensevenfour.livejournal.com]

I love this name. It's on my list, actually. I think it could go either way, but I prefer it as a girl's name. I think that a girl could handle the name better for some reason. I dunno. I love it, though.

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

Thats what I think of it too.

[drowning-spirit.livejournal.com]

I knew a Japanese guy at University called Hiroaki - and everyone called him Hiro. I can't think of it as anything other than a boys name.

[easter.livejournal.com]

Girl, absolutely.